Hakkinen, Bailey Lead US Men in Tough 20K Biathlon

Fri, Mar
9, 2007 - By US Biathlon Team

Oslo, Norway, March 8. Jay Hakkinen (Kasilof, AK) in 40th place and Lowell Bailey (Lake Placid, NY) in 44th place were the top US finishers today in the Men’s 20K Individual at the Oslo Biathlon World Cup.

Despite finishing four places apart, Hakkinen and Bailey were separated
by a mere 8.9 seconds at the finish, each with three one-minute
shooting penalties. Hakkinen finished 5:12.1 behind winner Raphael
Poiree of France, while Bailey was 5:21 back. Poiree, who will retire
on Sunday, won his fourth straight competition with clean shooting in
56:15.7. German Michael Greis was second, with one penalty, 5.5 seconds
back, with clean-shooting Dmitri Iarochenko of Russia third. 28.9
seconds back.

If the 20K in Lahti last week with its 2K uphill climb was hard,
today’s 20K was even harder; not because the hills here are as
demanding, but that the snow (or slush) was 6-8 inches deep from start
to finish. With two nights of above freezing temperatures, brilliant
sunshine today, and temperatures reaching plus 8 Celsius at race time,
the tracks literally turned into mush by the time the competition
started. Bailey, dripping with perspiration at the finish, commented on
the conditions. “I felt pretty good especially the first two loops.
Then my skis (and everyone else’s) started to slow down. From that
point, it took a lot of concentration, because the snow was getting
really deep.”

Regarding his performance, Bailey who has struggled at times recently
both on the tracks and shooting range, added, “I decided this week to
just concentrate on my performance and not worry about where I finish
in the final results. At the same time today, with the conditions as
they were, my plan was to stay relaxed, but focused on the shooting
range. I hit the first four shots in the final standing stage, knowing
that if I hit the final one, I would probably be in the top 30.
Unfortunately, I missed it, but I am very pleased with my performance.
I am feeling much better both physically and mentally than a few days
ago and that made a big difference today.”

Hakkinen’s strategy was similar to Bailey. “Under the conditions, there
was no reason to struggle, so I decided to just race under control and
shoot well. The prone stages came together well (both clean). In the
final standing stage, everything felt normal when I set up, but then I
suddenly felt all of the fatigue and I missed two.” Those two penalties
dropped the Alaskan from the low twenties to 40th at the finish.

Unlike Hakkinen and Bailey, Tim Burke (Paul Smiths, NY) had a sub-par
day on the shooting range. Burke skied well throughout the whole 20K,
but had six costly penalties, leaving him in 56th place, 6:31.5 back.
Jeremy Teela (Anchorage, AK) also had six penalties, finishing 80th,
8:59.5 back.
Hakkinen, Bailey, and Burke all qualified for Saturday’s 12.5K pursuit
competition. Between now and then conditions should improve as a cold
front brings some snow and temperatures below freezing.

While the men had a 20K Individual competition today (making up for a
missed 20K back in December), the Women raced a 7.5K Sprint in the
morning. Andrea Henkel won for the sixth time this season, shooting
clean while posting a 21:47.9 victory. Russian Ekaterina Iourieva, also
shooting clean was second, 24.8 seconds back, while the new German star
Magdalena Neuner, with one penalty was 31.5 seconds back. US Biathletes
Lanny Barnes (Durango, CO) and Denise Teela (Anchorage, AK) were 77th
and 79th respectively, 4;22.7 and 4;28.5 back. The highlight for the
two women was Teela’s 10-for-10 shooting, the first of her career in a
World Cup competition. Barnes had four penalties today.

The United States Biathlon Association is the National Governing Body
for the sport of Biathlon in the United States as recognized by the
United States Olympic Committee and the International Biathlon Union.
The US Biathlon Association supports the US Biathlon Team and
development of the sport on all levels within the United States.

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